San Jose redevelopment officials thought they had found the perfect location for a new parking garage downtown. But maybe they should have looked a little closer.

Apparently nobody at the redevelopment agency noticed that the property they hoped to acquire at 99 Notre Dame Ave. was at the time being remodeled for a new tenant, Santa Clara County Superior Court.

And now it's becoming evident that the court -- which paid for remodeling an existing, 14,000-square-foot building and took possession in January -- could be sent packing.

``We are looking in downtown to see if any other location can be found,'' said Abi Maghamfar, the San Jose Redevelopment Agency's parking program specialist. If the court gets the boot, Maghamfar said, it would come at the direction of the city council, and only as a last resort.

The agency would have to pay for the relocation, which could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars, based on recent relocations handled by the agency.

The bureaucratic mishap occurred as agency and county representatives each made plans for the privately owned property, but apparently kept the ideas to themselves for months.

Work began in April

The remodeling, which includes seismic strengthening and the construction of two courtrooms, began last April and ran through the end of the year.

Around August, the agency placed the property on a short list of locations where parking garages could be built and began notifying property owners. An agency official said both the county and the building's owner, Barry Swenson Builders, were notified in August or September.

Then, in November, the council approved the agency's so-called parking management plan, a recommendation to build five downtown garages at an estimated cost of $145 million. The Notre Dame site was among five sites in the plan, which was well-publicized at the time.

A court spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment Friday. It is not known whether the county, which is hurting for court space, would have moved in had it understood that the property was being considered for a garage.

The building is an extension of the larger family court, a crowded venue a few blocks away at Park Avenue and Almaden Boulevard.

Agency representatives apparently made several trips to the site before fully understanding that the county was moving into the building.

``They didn't realize what was going on with the courts and one day I guess they were walking around the block and noticed a bunch of work going on; they realized it wasn't just an empty building,'' said Aaron Barger, a project manager with Barry Swenson Builders.

Environmental review

The agency is now conducting an environmental review of the site before deciding how to proceed, Maghamfar said.

A section of the property is historically important. In 1956, IBM lab workers at that address developed the RAMAC 350, the world's first disk drive.

So a portion of the building that commemorates the discovery may have to remain, or perhaps just a plaque would be required, Maghamfar said.